Jeff Horwitz

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has proposed banning force-placed insurance commissions in a blow to banks and other mortgage servicers.

Rep. Maxine Waters also asked the government-sponsored enterprises' conservator to provide a list of outside "stakeholders" it consulted before making its decision.

As the overseer of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has a duty to safeguard taxpayer dollars.

A plan to slash premiums for replacement homeowners insurance has been killed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Under the deal, the 10 servicers will pay $3.2 billion to borrowers and offer an additional $5.5 billion in unspecified "other assistance."

Consumer advocates and mortgage bond investors have alleged that banks and insurers grossly inflate the cost of such policies, overcharging struggling homeowners and investors by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The decision may prove pivotal to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in recouping a small portion of the more than $12 billion of losses it suffered in the wake of IndyMac's collapse.

Zurich is the anchor member in a consortium of insurers that Fannie Mae has lined up to write policies on its portfolio at 30% to 40% discounts to existing premiums.

Credit Suisse's misconduct and deceit was at least partially responsible for more than $11 billion in losses suffered by investors in its boom-era residential mortgage securitizations, New York's suit claims.

Fannie is seeking to require banks and other mortgage servicers to replace existing force-placed policies on loans it guarantees with insurance provided by a consortium of carriers offering 30% to 40% discounts.

Wells Fargo has temporarily halted loan reviews until it receives guidance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Despite the lack of any big acquisitions, Nationstar's servicing portfolio grew slightly, to $198 billion in serviced loans, on the back of increased originations and two GSE portfolio acquisitions.

Under New York insurance rules, storms must meet agreed upon criteria in order for insurers to charge the additional premiums.

Assurant said it is attempting to create more flexible policies that address the concerns of banker clients and regulators about costs and services provided.

In May 2011, Nationstar filed an initial prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission, aiming to sell 20% of the company for $233 million.

Nationstar Mortgage went from private equity flop to a top servicer of troubled loans, thanks to deft management and a Fannie Mae partnership once hidden even from parts of the government.

When Fannie Mae agreed to pay Bank of America $512 million to buy the right to administer 384,000 loans last year, members of Congress questioned the size of the payment to the beleaguered servicer.

The CFPB proposal promises an end to years of legal skirmishes over whether to categorize services as closing or financing costs and reflects a broader effort to improve how loan terms are presented.

Following a series of regulatory and legal challenges to force-placed insurance, the Securities and Exchange Commission asked Assurant, the leading specialty insurance carrier, to quantify the potential financial impact.

Morrison & Foerster can't say it hired the attorney who wrote the CFPB's rulebook. But it picked up the guy who started the job.